Depositional landforms

Question 1

Spit

Answer 1

Long narrow finger of sand and/or shingle jutting into the sea or an estuary due to longshore drift after coastline changes direction

Question 2

Saltmarshes

Answer 2

Forms behind spits as mud deposits build and vegetation grows

Question 3

Simple spit example

Answer 3

Spurn Head

Question 4

Compound spit example

Answer 4

Hooks from past ends, Hurst Castle

Question 5

Bar

Answer 5

When longshore drift causes a spit to grow across a bay and form a lagoon, less salt over time due to streams and rain

Question 6

Bar example

Answer 6

Slapton Lay in Devon

Question 7

Offshore bar

Answer 7

Waves approaching a gently sloping coast deposit material due to friction to form mounds waves break against

Question 8

Offshore bar example

Answer 8

Slapton Sands Devon

Question 9

Tombolo

Answer 9

Spit joins an island

Question 10

Tombolo example

Answer 10

St Ninian’s Shetland

Question 11

Barrier beach

Answer 11

Offshore bar driven onshore by lower sea levels

Question 12

Barrier beach example

Answer 12

Chesil Beach, Dorset

Question 13

Barrier islands

Answer 13

Unconsolidated sediment islands parallel to shore

Question 14

How do barrier islands form

Answer 14

From spits, storms cause inlets. From drowned dune ridges, enlarged as waves break against and deposit. From sand bars, moved shoreward by waves depositing on shoreward side and removing from seaward

Question 15

Barrier island example

Answer 15

Mustang Island Texas

Question 16

Vegetation succession

Answer 16

Evolution of plant communities at a site over time from pioneer species to climatic climax community (oak woodland in UK) or plagioclimax